Rafa’s bench to the rescue with Toon out of drop zone
RAFA BENITEZ had been poring over managerial notes from 20 years ago in search of Newcastle’s first win of the season without realising the answer was in his dug-out. Midfielder Ki Sung-yueng and defender Fabian Schar have started only three league games between them and were on the bench again. But when injuries to two of the team’s best players — captain Jamaal Lascelles and playmaker Jonjo Shelvey — forced their introduction against Watford, the game swung in Newcastle’s favour. Ki created the second-half headed winner for fellow sub Ayoze Perez, while Schar injected aggression into the previously passive hosts. ‘I don’t say the manager didn’t like me but clearly he wasn’t satisfied with what I showed early on,’ said Ki, a summer freetransfer signing from Swansea. ‘I never spoke to the manager, I just waited for my chance. I never worried I’d made the wrong move. I always knew I could play in front of these fans. The manager must like me now!’ Benitez will like him even more if Ki enjoys a run of form. Fans might also like Ki but some are still not happy with owner Mike Ashley. Security guards had to intervene when one supporter tried to confront Ashley in the directors’ box. Sportsmail understands the supporter verbally abused the owner before being removed. He later went to the dressing room after his team’s first win of the season to congratulate Benitez and his players. Meanwhile, so desperate had Benitez been to reverse his club’s worst ever start to a season, he read over his old jottings from his time at Spanish strugglers Extremadura in the late Nineties. ‘I’ve been using my experience to think about what we could do to change things,’ he admitted. ‘I was reading notes from the past and checking everything.’ What he should have checked on were the substitutes. We might well find they are starters come next weekend. NEWCASTLE UNITED (4-4-2): Dubravka 6.5; Yedlin 6, Fernandez 7.5, Lascelles 6 (SCHAR 46min, 8), Dummett 7; Ritchie 7, Shelvey 5.5 (Ki 51, 7.5), Diame 6, Kenedy 7; Muto 5.5 (Perez 45, 7.5), Rondon 6.5. Subs not
used: Darlow, Manquillo, Joselu, Atsu. Scorer: Perez 65. Booked: Schar. Manager: Rafa Benitez 6. WATFORD (4-4-2): Foster 6; Femenia 6, Cathcart 6, Mariappa 6, Holebas 6; Hughes 6 (Okaka 77, 5), Capoue 7, Doucoure 7, Pereyra 7; Success 7 (Chalobah 85), Deulofeu 6.5 (Gray 67, 6).
Subs not used: Gomes, Masina, Sema, Kabasele.
Booked: Capoue, Okaka, Gray, Hughes, Holebas. Manager: Javi Gracia 6. Referee: Craig Pawson 7. Attendance: 49,157.